A New World
by Charli Fox
Summary: The Plateau is still untouched by modern civilisation, and the grandchildren of the explorers are stuck on the Plateau as they were. That is about to change...Next chapter finally up, r&r.
1. Prologue

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Disclaimer: I own no rights to The Lost World or the characters.

Any people you don't recognise are mine. 

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A New World

Prologue

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19th March 1996

I think that's what the date is anyway, its hard to keep track of the time here, Ellie made me do sums today and they were hard, I wish I could understand maths, she isn't a very good teacher. I wish I could've had Grandpa George teach me my sums, he'd would've explained everything better. I don't really remember him very well but I was only three when he died, Ellie misses him a lot but she never tells anyone what she feels.

Tom and Ellie went out looking for our parents again today, the treehouse was attacked a lot of years ago but they still carry on looking. I was about twelve when it happened but I remember things real well, Ellie and I where upstairs with our mother and Ton was off hunting with his father; our father was outside in the garden. Some men attacked, I think they were Vantu but I can't really remember that very well. We hid and mother went to fight them off but they got taken. Tom came running back a long while later, his father had made him run back to the treehouse to save himself, Mr Malone never came back.

Our fathers where born in one of the tribes on the Plateau, the Zanga I think, our mothers kept the last names of their parents. It's really hard keeping a diary and I shouldn't be writing this now, I'm supposed to be learning my French, it's Tom's paper that I'm using but he won't mind.

End of entry

Laura Roxton

I wonder if I'm supposed to write that, I'm not used to writing my thoughts, I'll ask Tom about it later he writes a lot.

*

"Tom!" Ellie shouted as loud as she could and her voice carried on the wind "Tom! Stop hiding…I need you're help, you know I can't drag this carcass by myself!" she kicked a stone in frustration when he didn't return her calls. "Fine! You starve then!" she headed away from the lake and back towards the treehouse. She hadn't been walking for very long when she heard a noise behind her, the sound of feet treading on dried leaves, she froze and a smiled appeared on her face "a T-Rex makes less noise than you do"

A hand grabbed her arm and she spun around, stepping back as she did so "T-Rex?" the man before her was definitely not Tom Malone, this person was tall, his hair black with traces of grey at the sides, he had a gun, not one she'd seen before. "Do you…live here?"

"Answer my question…who are you?" she pulled out of his grip.

"Joe Hawthorne, an archaeologist."

She eyed the gun warily "do…arc…arcaolgists carry guns where you come from?" 

"Archaeologist" he said, pronouncing the word correctly for her "well to answer you're question, this is purely for protection…now who are you?" he asked his earlier question again, this time with slight impatience.

"I don't give out personal information to people I don't know" she said as she stepped back.

Joe moved forward "it isn't safe for you out here, you're coming with me back to my camp" he made to take her by the arm.

"I'm not going anywhere with you!" She turned around to block her way but another man blocked her path.

"Nice catch" the newcomer said as he looked at Ellie.

"You haven't caught me yet" she moved into a position where she could see them both, she removed something from her coat pocket, the jacket had belonged to her mother and her mother before her, the men watched her in curiosity.

"What are you gonna do? Throw us the bone?" the newcomer asked sarcastically.

She shook her head, a glint came in her eye "no…this is special, she put it to her mouth and blew into it, she was calling to something.

"Oh that hurt us," the unnamed man said with a grin.

"Have you ever seen a raptor?" she asked as if making polite conversation. 

The two men shook their heads "a raptor? A dinosaur?" Joe asked in disbelief.

Ellie nodded "well that noise sounded like the call of one of their own…it shouldn't be long now…I just called to us every raptor in the area, and its feeding time. "The two men looked to one another and laughed, then they heard a noise one that they didn't recognise. Ellie smiled at the sudden worried looks on their faces "I don't believe they've tasted archaeologist before."

TBC


	2. Chapter One

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A New World

Chapter One

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Joe and his friend started to move away from Ellie, they looked left and right, up and down, they turned in circles…nervous. "Send them away" Joe demanded of her, she shook her head "do it!"

"I can't control them, their not pets that you can teach to beg and sit, you're on your own Mister" the other man grabbed her roughly "let me go!"

"If they eat us for dinner I'm going to make sure you're still here for dessert" he said grimly. She could hear them coming, hear them calling to each other, she tried to pull out of the man's grip but he held her too tight. They aimed their guns into the bushes where leaves had started to rustle "we going to get the hell out of here, Joe, on my count we run back to camp." Joe nodded in agreement and both men and Ellie stepped back, though she had no choice, "1…2…3!" they took off into the trees, the raptors right behind them.

"You can't out run them," Ellie shouted as she was pulled through the trees.

They ignored her "our camp isn't far from here" Joe told her, his breathing was deep, and beads of perspiration trailed down his face.

"You'll lead them to you're friends!" Ellie was started to wish she'd never called the raptors, her plan wasn't turning out quite like she'd expected it to.

"Turner!" Joe screamed, he turned around and fired into the trees, a raptor jumped through the bushes and landed on top of him, Turner and Ellie were ahead of him and barely heard his call, Turner stopped and waited a second before he carried on charging towards his camp.

"Help him!" Ellie tried to pull away from him but Turner dragged her with him.

"He's dead by now" he said softly, a regretful tone was apparent in his voice, but he still left his friend and there was no excusing that, "how many more of them things will there be?" they travelled at a slower pace now.

"They travel in packs, so, three maybe four more" Ellie answered, a few minutes later they came to a stop. Ellie got her first look at their camp, it was small and three tents where in the clearing, side by side. A fire had been lit and two men where sat on either side of it, the thing that caught her attention was the cages that where piled up by boxes of supplies. "What kind of archaeologist needs cages?"

He ignored her question and led her t where the other two men waited for Turner, they looked over his shoulder "where's Joe?" one of them asked, he was well built, his hair a mousy brown.

Turner looked solemnly at him "I'm sorry Graham, we were attacked…" he stopped talking but he didn't need to say anymore, Graham got the point.

The other archaeologist, a short, stocky man named Robert, nodded his head at Ellie "whose this?"

Turner pushed her forward "I don't know yet…do you live here?" She kept her mouth closed, saying nothing "I heard you shouting for someone back there, Tom, and it won't take us long for us to find you're camp, you can't have travelled far. Where are you're parents?"

She hesitated, then "their gone."

Graham looked at her sadly "I'm sorry, how did they die?"

Ellie looked up at him "if they were dead I'd have said so…they were taken, but, they could still be out there…"

Graham leaned down so he was at eye level with her "do you…live here?"

"Listen girl, either you tell us or we'll find the answers out for ourselves!" Turner said angrily.

"You're not archaeologists, are you?" 

Turner ignored her question and turned to Robert "keep her in the tent, I'm going hunting."

*

Tom had heard the shot, he'd been on his way to the treehouse, but now he was running to where he'd last seen Ellie, his heart was pounding in his chest, he couldn't get to the lake fast enough. He looked to the ground, Ellie's prints were clear enough, but there were two more, prints he hadn't see before, the lines were zigzag, he quietly followed the tracks, keeping a careful watch, he didn't want to be surprised. 

He didn't take him long to find the bloodied body…or what was left of it, he had been dragged quite a distance and the blood had become ingrained in the dirt, a set of three raptor prints were by the body. He now held the rifle that had been slung over his shoulder, in his hands, he was on full alert. Tom heard his would be captor before he set eyes on him, he didn't like what he saw.

TBC 


	3. Chapter Two

_**AN: Whoa, finally an update! They will come more frequent from now on.**_

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**A New World**

Chapter Two

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"Where's Ellie?" Tom demanded. He aimed the rifle at Turner; if the stranger made a move the younger man had no qualms about using it. He wouldn't shoot to kill at first of course, but if it came to that then he would "what did you do with her?"

To his frustration, Turner chuckled as though he found Tom extremely amusing. "She's at my camp, and that is exactly where you are going" he responded in a very firm tone. He hadn't forgotten about the raptors and behind the smirking mask, Turner was on edge, obviously he had never dealt with dinosaurs before and so he had no idea how they acted. "Are there anymore of you?" the 'children' would be taken off the plateau and questioned, a few people would be interested to hear how they had survived alone out in the wilderness, and with prehistoric creatures running around all over the place too.

Tom shook his head; he wasn't going to tell this guy anything at all. "Take me to her" he ordered as though it wasn't an adult that he was speaking to. Usually he was quiet, but when threatened he could be the complete opposite.

"Sure fine whatever" this kid was starting to irritate him, the sooner he could hand him off to Graham the better. Turner indicated that he wanted Tom to follow him and he turned around and began to make his way back to the area he had just come from. This time he managed to return to camp without incident, he stepped past the campfire and disappeared into his tent. A couple of seconds later he poked his head out "well make yourself at home" Turner spoke sarcastically.

The younger man would have replied in a similar tone if he hadn't have heard Ellie, he looked at her, thankful that she was all right. "We need to get out of here" Tom spoke in hushed tones. Wary of the two men, Graham was standing only a few feet away and it was obvious he was trying to hear what was being said.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks so much for asking" her tone of voice resembled Turner's. Her arms were folded and she looked around with a stoic expression "we can go as soon as it gets dark. These people will probably go to sleep soon, Graham was saying where they come from its usually late at night around this time and that they haven't gotten used to the time difference" Ellie informed.

Tom looked vaguely surprised that she had got any kind of information. Turner hadn't been particularly willing to talk "oh so you're on a first name basis."

Ellie rolled her eyes at his annoying attitude "actually that's his last name, his first is Robert" _take that brainiac_. All they seemed to do was argue nowadays, she looked back at the topic of their conversation; he had stopped trying to hear them and was stoking the fire. "All we can do at the moment is wait."

The young woman looked away from Tom and went and sat by the campfire. "Fine" he responded _I should've just left her on her own, she seems to have gotten everything figured out_. He wondered how Laura was doing, she wasn't used to being left on her own for long periods of time, but of course he couldn't say anything aloud because he had told Turner there was only Ellie and him. Tom sighed, he didn't like feeling useless and right now there was nothing he could do, and so he too wandered over to the fire to wait. The light was waning and the two plateau natives were beginning to think their captors would never sleep; Turner had left his tent around three hours earlier and hadn't gone back. In fact he seemed perfectly happy to camp out under the stars, and if that was the case it made escaping rather difficult.

Just as Ellie's eyes began to close Tom poked her side to rouse her "I'm still awake" she protested in a voice that was louder than she meant it to be. She heard him grunt, he didn't believe her for a second. For the next hour they pretended they were asleep and at ten minute intervals sneaked peeks at Turner, who also appeared to be sleeping. He wore his wide brimmed hat forward on his forward so that it covering his eyes, his body was hunched over and he was perfectly still. Graham was in the tent and there was no sound coming from that area. Tom took Ellie's hand and gently shook her awake to let her know that it was time. As quietly as they good they stood, mindful of the rustling leaves and twigs that littered their path. Only the call of a bird close by broke the silence and apart from the two strangers that had disturbed the Plateau hours before the place was a picture of serenity.

Tom led the way through the trees, they stepped around the trees and bushes carefully and looked back to the camp periodically to make sure Turner was still sleeping. And then, they were home free! As soon as they were far enough away from the camp that no noise they made would be heard they fled through the jungle towards the treehouse. One hundred meters or so from their home they both paused and waited five minutes to make sure one last time that they had not been followed but all was quiet and, satisfied that they would be okay, they took the lift up to the treehouse.

They found Laura fast asleep on the couch, plates had been set out on the table and cups, two of them still full. Laura's plate had remnants of fruit left; she had waited for them, becoming worried when they had not returned. Eventually tiredness had overpowered her fear that they wouldn't return and she had succumbed to sleep. Ellie sat down on the arm of the chair and roused her little sister, talking quietly as she did so "we're back."

Laura stirred and it took her a few seconds to realise she was not merely dreaming. Her eyes snapped open and relief flooded through her "I thought you had gone too" she said quietly and fiddled with the edge of the blanket that had covered her.

"We had to find a hiding place for a while, raptors picked up our trail" Tom spoke up with the believable lie. It would do no good to worry the youngest member of the family with the matter of the two strangers. He and Ellie had agreed outside that nothing would be said about the true matters of that day.

"But you're not going to leave again, are you? We're supposed to go to the Zanga village tomorrow so we can trade" trading was good, hunting was bad, hunting could get Ellie and Tom hurt and Laura was always fretful of that. She smiled when Tom shook his head, at ease once again she settled back on the couch and closed her eyes, it didn't take long for sleep to find her again and soon she was dreaming, blissfully unaware of the conversation going on downstairs.

Tom and Ellie had gathered in the old, now unused Lab that had belonged to their grandfather George, it was rarely used anymore. Tom would have lied to learn more and he immersed himself in the scientific texts that were gathering dust on the bookshelf. He shifted a test tube rack and sat down on the edge of the table it was set upon "I don't think those men will just leave here...they'll try and find us and when they do we'll have to tell Laura something."

Ellie was looking the other way and didn't see his concerned gaze, he worried too much and she hated that, he treated her as well as Laura like a child! "I know" she muttered her agreement "but in all likelihood we'll be able to slip past them tomorrow on the way to the Zanga village, we'll be there for a few days and in that time they may have given up and decided to return home" the brunette reasoned.

Her back was facing him but Tom knew that if he could look her in the eyes she would watch him defiantly, wanting her own way. Only this time she wouldn't get it. "It's too much of a risk, up here they won't see us but down there..." he waved his arm in the general direction of the jungle floor "there's a chance that they'll see us."

"Fine, you stay here like a frightened animal, tomorrow morning Laura and I will leave and when we come back everything will be back to normal" she did not wait for him to reply and marched out of the Lab and up the stairs to her room.

Tom followed her; this time he wanted the last word. "Do you like being in the thick of danger?" he demanded to know "is that why you called the Raptors to you earlier? To see if you could get out of it? To tempt fate?" he cut across her path to stop her from walking any further.

"Don't be stupid" she spat out and pushed him aside. "If I hadn't have done that then we would've had three people after us, two we can deal with." Not that one of the men being killed by a Raptor had been her intentions, Ellie had simply wanted to escape but things had gone awry. That was not her fault.

"That is not the point and you know it," he scolded, "you didn't have to call the Raptors because I was there!" he stepped in front of her again and spoke quieter now, mindful of the young girl asleep nearby.

"And what exactly would you have done? Shot him?" Ellie laughed at that thought. "You are impossible Malone, I can't do anything right by you," she shouted, sounding resentful of that fact. Not that Tom blamed her.

He shook his head and walked in the direction of his own room. "Fine" he called over his shoulder "go risk your life again." They both walked to their individual rooms and the treehouse was silent for the remainder of the night. It wouldn't remain that way for long.


End file.
